I Am a Strange Loop


Douglas R. Hofstadter - 2007
    Deep down, a human brain is a chaotic seething soup of particles, on a higher level it is a jungle of neurons, and on a yet higher level it is a network of abstractions that we call "symbols." The most central and complex symbol in your brain or mine is the one we both call "I." The "I" is the nexus in our brain where the levels feed back into each other and flip causality upside down, with symbols seeming to have free will and to have gained the paradoxical ability to push particles around, rather than the reverse. For each human being, this "I" seems to be the realest thing in the world. But how can such a mysterious abstraction be real--or is our "I" merely a convenient fiction? Does an "I" exert genuine power over the particles in our brain, or is it helplessly pushed around by the all-powerful laws of physics? These are the mysteries tackled in I Am a Strange Loop, Douglas R. Hofstadter's first book-length journey into philosophy since Godel, Escher, Bach. Compulsively readable and endlessly thought-provoking, this is the book Hofstadter's many readers have long been waiting for.

Past Lives, Future Healing


Sylvia Browne - 2001
    She has proven herself, in her fifty years of working as a medium, to be the reigning queen of psychic phenomena. Here is an insightful look at how much of one's present life is informed by one's past lives, and how many health and relationship problems have their roots in unresolved past lives. From unexplained illnesses to bizarre phobias, from irrational anxieties and fears to the choice of partners, each can be traced back to past lives. Even birthmarks and recurring dreams are signs of issues from past lives. Sylvia helps readers recognize where their deep-rooted problems, fears, and hang-ups all began-and how to ultimately resolve them.

The Black Hole War: My Battle with Stephen Hawking to Make the World Safe for Quantum Mechanics


Leonard Susskind - 2008
    Most scientists didn't recognize the import of Hawking's claims, but Leonard Susskind and Gerard t'Hooft realized the threat, and responded with a counterattack that changed the course of physics.The Black Hole War is the thrilling story of their united effort to reconcile Hawking's revolutionary theories of black holes with their own sense of reality -- effort that would eventually result in Hawking admitting he was wrong, paying up, and Susskind and t'Hooft realizing that our world is a hologram projected from the outer boundaries of space.A brilliant book about modern physics, quantum mechanics, the fate of stars and the deep mysteries of black holes, Leonard Susskind's account of the Black Hole War is mind-bending and exhilarating reading.

Reality Unveiled


Ziad Masri - 2017
    Far from offering simple platitudes and general principles, Reality Unveiled immerses you into this surprising world of ancient and modern knowledge, and presents you with all the incredible evidence to support it.With a new profound understanding of existence, and answers to your long-held innermost questions, it gently goes on to show you how to tap into this inspiring wisdom in your practical everyday life, giving you the power to make a lasting transformation like never before, and to have the joy, peace, and true fulfillment you’ve always searched for.The book does something new and different in the spirituality genre, bringing scientific and empirical evidence to it in a way that reads like a gripping novel or documentary, while not losing the elements that touch one's soul.

Out of My Head: On the Trail of Consciousness


Tim Parks - 2018
    Most philosophers believe that our experience is locked inside our skulls, an unreliable representation of a quite different reality outside. Colour, smell and sound, they tell us, occur only in our heads. Yet when neuroscientists look inside our brains to see what’s going on, they find only billions of neurons exchanging electrical impulses and releasing chemical substances.Out of My Head tells the gripping, highly personal, often surprisingly funny, story of Tim Parks' quest to discover more about this fascinating topic. It frames complex metaphysical considerations and technical laboratory experiments in terms we can all understand. Above all, it invites us to see space, time, colour and smell, sounds and sensations in an entirely new way. The world will feel more real after reading it.